Abstract
Porous asphalt mixture can be used as a road surface paving material with the remarkable advantage to prevent water accumulation and ponding. However, the performance of porous asphalt mixture in low temperature environment has not been thoroughly investigated, and this forms the subject of research in the present study. The mineral aggregate gradation of porous asphalt mixture was designed based on Bailey method, and the low temperature performance of porous asphalt mixture was studied by means of the low temperature bending test. The factors affecting the low temperature performance of porous asphalt mixture were analyzed through the orthogonal experimental design method, and the effects of porosity, modifier content, aging condition, and test temperature on the low temperature performance of porous asphalt mixture were evaluated. The results showed that the modifier content was the most important factor affecting the low temperature performance of porous asphalt mixture, followed by the test temperature, while the porosity and the aging condition were the least. Among the three performance evaluation indicators, namely the flexural tensile strength, maximum bending strain, and bending stiffness modulus, the maximum bending strain had the highest sensitivity to the porosity. It can be seen from the single factor influence test of porosity that there existed an approximately linear relationship between the maximum bending strain and the porosity of porous asphalt mixture, and the maximum bending strain decreased with increasing porosity. Furthermore, in order to ensure the good working performance of porous asphalt mixture in low temperature environment, the porosity should also satisfy the required limits of the maximum bending strain.
Highlights
The existence of water film on road surface in rainy weather affects the effective contact between the tire of vehicle and the road surface
The results revealed that the descending order of influence of factors on flexural tensile strength of porous asphalt mixture was: modifier content, test temperature, aging condition, and porosity
By increasing the modifier content from 9% to 15%, the flexural tensile strength decreased by 5.7%, the maximum bending strain increased by 18.5%, and the bending stiffness modulus decreased by 20.4%
Summary
The existence of water film on road surface in rainy weather affects the effective contact between the tire of vehicle and the road surface. When the water film on road surface reaches a certain thickness, the braking distance of the vehicle will increase, and skid resistance of tires will decrease. These might cause drift of the vehicle and possibly endanger road-users’ safety. Problems such as splashing water, water mist, and night glare caused by the discharge of water from road surface adversely affect driving safety. The use of porous asphalt pavement is a method to effectively prevent the accumulation and ponding of water on road surface [4,5], which has been conceived and adopted in numerous countries including France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan and the United States [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
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